Spirited Away: Memories of the Past
by KawaChou
Summary: Ogino Chihiro is your normal high school student with some odd foggy memories. In her dreams she remembers a white dragon, an old memory from her past in a river, and a bathhouse? One night, the dragon talks to her and takes her to a familiar place after she builds a shrine for a forgotten friend. What will happen to her when an accident brings her to her senses?
1. Chapter 1: Puzzles in the Rain

Spirited Away: Memories of the Past

Ogino Chihiro is your normal high school student with some odd foggy memories. In her dreams she remembers a white dragon, an old memory from her past in a river, and a bathhouse? One night, the dragon talks to her and takes her to a familiar place after she builds a shrine for a forgotten friend. What will happen to her when an accident brings her to her senses?

~*~•~*~•~*~

Chapter 1: Puzzles in the Rain

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All rights reserved to Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.

I do not own Spirited Away. If I did, there'd be a sequel by now... T_T

~*~•~*~•~*~

Black waters and lights. Weird creatures at an abandoned ghost town of an amusement park. Chihiro walked up to the black waters and touched it. Almost instantly, something grabbed her hand and pulled her under.

"Chihiro!" A voice called out to her.

_Where am I? Am I falling? I can't remember anything? All I can see is darkness. My ears are ringing. Why won't it stop? Why is this all so familiar, yet so far away?_

~*~•~*~•~*~

Ogino Chihiro tapped her pencil on her desk as she sat her head in her palm and stared out the window. She had long sense droned out her teacher who was teaching something about the Nara Period, something like that. No, her mind was wandering elsewhere, somewhere deep within her memories. Why couldn't she remember? She'd heard that you can't dream about something you've never actually seen. So why was she having dreams about things she couldn't recall seeing?

And they weren't normal things! There were turnip spirit things, crows with weird faces, a bathhouse that totally didn't resemble the one she worked at now. But what really usually caught her eye was a white eastern like dragon with emerald green eyes that always showed itself near a river her family used to visit when she was younger. If she recalled it was filled and houses were built over it.

But the thought of not knowing was irritating and it distracted her from her school work. Her grades were slowly slipping and her parents were starting to take notice. She growned and pulled on her long brown hair that was left down and practically hit her head on the desk, gathering all the attention in the room.

"Sleeping in my class, Ogino-Kun?" Her sensei asked, raising an eye brow.

"_Iie_, Sensei,_ gomen_." Chihiro apologized, sheepishly while rubbing her forehead. [1]

"Right, anyway..." Her sensei continued.

~*~•~*~•~*~

Chihiro looked out the doors of her school and sighed. It was raining. No. Pouring. And she'd forgotten her umbrella.

Chihiro sighed and looked around at all the kids pulling out their umbrellas and not realizing that the Ogino had forgotten hers. What little friends she had had clubs to be at and she was pretty sure no one else on campus would stop to offer her an umbrella. So, she did what she had to. Ninja it.

She darted across the street and under a tree before resuming on to the overhang not to far away. Her school uniform sleeves were already drenched from shielding her face. At this rate she'd get sick. Chihiro found a bus stop and stopped to take a breather and get from under the rain.

The Ogino took sharp deep breaths as she looked around to see her surroundings. Now that she stopped to think about it, this was the route to that one place almost eight years ago. Out of curiousity, she figured it was on her way home anyway, so she'd go to check it out. Despite the discomfort of the rain, her curiousity wasn't smothered. Chihiro climbed the muddy trail up into the damp forest, passing small little shrines that told her she was on the right path. She considered who the shrines were for but didn't spend too much thought.

Before she could reach her destination, a large stream of water intercepted her path from the constant downpour. By then, her mother was calling her asking if she was safe and on her way. She simply sighed and replied that she was fine other than the fact that she was practically drenched and almost home. Her mother apologised for not being able to pick her up and hung up. Just as Chihiro turned to leave she looked up and saw a familiar figure in the stream. It had looked like it was reaching out to her and when she took a double take to see what was there, it'd vanished. Chihiro shrugged it off before sneezing and continuing on home.

~*~•~*~•~*~

"Chihiro! You're soaked to the bone!" Ogino Yuko cried at the sight of her daughter as she walked in the house. She quickly grabbed a towel and wrapped it around Chihiro.

"I'm fine Oka-San." The young girl reassured. "I need to go finish my homework before I head down to work."

Her mother hesitated before smiling. "Alright, Chihiro, don't work yourself too hard."

"Yes, Ma'am." Chihiro smiled and headed up the stairs after kicking off her shoes at the door.

Chihiro dropped her bag in her room before retreating to the bathroom and pealing off the drenched second layer on her body and running a hot bath. As she impatiently waited for the tub to fill, she thought about the figure she saw earlier. Why did it feel so familiar? As if she knew who it was?

Her memories felt like a puzzle since that day. None of the pieces she found ever fit right especially lately. She'd been having practically the same dream everynight. That dragon. Chihiro placed her hand on her chin and hummed to herself as she thought about it. She knew him. Somehow it felt like she found another piece but it all seemed fuzzy. The river...

The girl got into the bath and dragged her finger threw the river to make a little stream in the water. It was like a miss led creature in the middle of the ocean. She giggle to herself at the thought. Suddenly the image of the dragon showed in front of her. Why wouldn't it leave her alone? Why didn't it get that this was her home not its home? Why couldn't it just move out of the back of her mind and leave! That's when she stopped...

What if it didn't have a home to go to?

~*~•~*~•~*~

A/N: Okay, it couldn't be helped! And I've resisted from reading any other Spirited Away fanfic to try to stop from getting ideas and unintentionally stealing them. So I've tried to keep it original. However I've failed and my temptations in reading other stories have been severed. T_T = HaHa! No Face!

Anyway, The stories a bit sketchy and fast paced in my head and I'm not the biggest fan of this cuz I feel the reader doesn't like it. However, for now I'll leave it as is and if people review telling me that it is too fast pace or something, I'll rewrite it. But don't all stories not make sense in the beginning? So until I start getting reviews, I'll keep with my style...

And about Last Resort, I'm still working on it. I've hit a slight writer's block, but as soon as I get into the roll again, I'll be updating more often...I hope. O_o But I'll try to have something up within the week... No guarantees...

"Glossary":

[1]** iie** means "no" in Jap, and **gomen** means "sorry"


	2. Chapter 2: Home for the River Spirit

Spirited Away: Memories of the Past

Ogino Chihiro is your normal high school student with some odd foggy memories. In her dreams she remembers a white dragon, an old memory from her past in a river, and a bathhouse? One night, the dragon talks to her and takes her to a familiar place after she builds a shrine for a forgotten friend. What will happen to her when an accident brings her to her senses?

~*~•~*~•~*~

Chapter 2: Home for the River Spirit

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All rights reserved to Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.

I do not own Spirited Away. If I did, there'd be a sequel by now... T_T

~*~•~*~•~*~

Chihiro stopped at the light and looked into the passenger's seat of her parents' car. She cocked her head and sighed. What was she doing? Why did she go down to the store and by a shrine for someone she didn't even know? And she _assumed_ the dragon that bothered her so often was simply a spirit without a home and would get off her back if she gave it one. As she pulled up the hill she parked in front of the eerily dark green forest. Chihiro gulped and opened the door and rounded the car to retrieve the little shrine. She made her way to the edge of the forest and glanced in to the darkness before sucking in a deep breath and walking forward into the forest.

The sounds of birds and frogs singing after the fall showers of the prior couple of days resounded around her. Shadows moved in the wind and drops of water dripped to the ground as she finally found herself at the obstacle that stopped her last time. A stream of water that crossed over the path that didn't seem as menacing as it was before and simply trailed its way in the forest again. Chihiro removed her shoes and waded out across the stream, going only up to her ankles.

Then, she finally found herself in an area that she hadn't seen in almost eight years: the abandoned amusement park entrance. She grimaced at the ugly little two faced statue and placed the little shrine next to it to take in her surroundings. A sudden breeze picked up as she peered into the tunnel in front of her. Chihiro clamped her fists and swallowed hard. What was this feeling? It was almost like déjà vu as she felt the wind caress her gently toward the tunnel. A shiver ran up her spine as she pivoted away from the tunnel and picked up the shrine she had brought. Carefully, she walked back toward the stream and looked up into the forest of which it came. She sucked in her breath and waded once again into the water and followed it upstream. The further she went, the rougher the currents got and deeper the water got. Not to mention her stone shrine wasn't getting any lighter.

Soon, she was met with the river the stream had detached itself from. She had long since left the rough waters of the stream and now sought out a neat place to branch off the river. She soon found a clearing with a large tree and settled the shrine in front of it. She then searched for a reasonably sized branch from the brushes and started to forge a new branch off the river. She made a beeline toward the shrine add some curve here and there before it joined the shrine where she made a small pond in front of it. She decorated it with flower seeds along the rim and stones, followed by koi eggs she had picked up the store.

When she was done, she kneeled and faced the river, bowing lowly with hands clasped together before speaking. "May you bless this lost spirit with a path of its own so it might find a new home, thank you." Chihiro looked up once again and returned to her shrine. Something in her told her the words she needed to say. "Nigihayami Kohakunushi, I pray that you'll be able to finally rest soundly with a home of your own here in the Human World. I'm sorry I'm so late." Suddenly she stopped. Sorry? Why was she sorry? And how did she know that name and how it didn't have a home in this said _Human World_? The only way she'd know that name is by memory of the old river.

Then an image of a young man rippled in the water, with the white, eastern dragon shadowing over his figure. The image was faint but Chihiro could only watched with her jaw set ajar with a look up disbelief as the man smiled gently and touched the surface of the water like it was the other side of a mirror. The man had evenly cut moss green hair that flowed gently in the current, stern-kind emerald eyes peering up at her, wearing a formal tunic with what looked like shades of greens and deep blues. He mouthed something before fading away into the ripples of the small newly forging river.

Chihiro sat for kami knows how long before she realized her mother was calling her wondering where she was. She managed to tell her she was fine and heading home soon before she hung up still in complete and utter shock of what had just transpired. That boy, no, man. She knew him. The puzzle pieces were coming together. The image was becoming clearer, the fog was clearing, the voice was calling out to her again.

_"Chihiro!"_ The voice from her dreams called out.

"Ha…ku…?"

~*~•~*~•~*~

A woman clad in a tattered, fancy kimono and long disheveled black hair sat drearily on a stone in the park. Her eyes shrouded and dead but wanting no more than revenge and longing. The children playing in the park took no heed in her presence and ran past her laughing and smiling. The sun made her pale skin give a dull-like glow. She held a withered, old book in her pale, bony hands and slowly opened it and wrote:

_Journal Entry for Monday, August 10, 2009_

_Death shall befall the one that holds the heart of the one I love. I shall find her, make her suffer, and slaughter her. I shall take back what is mine once and for all._

~*~•~*~•~*~

A/N: Ooooh! Cliff hanger/new character! I hope you guys are enjoying my story! :D You will learn here very quickly that I LOVE cliffhangers. Even though I hate reading them, I love to write them and leave suspense just hanging there.

Some of this actually wasn't planned till last minute shockingly enough. =_=" I have a very bad habit of that... But anywho! Sorry it's soooo short, I feel bad for it's lack in length! I'll be working on that in future chapters! So please don't harass me for longer chapters!

Please review! I enjoy the watches but it gets lonely without a word or two from the readers. :(

Thanks! Ja'ne! :)

Thank You to:

S. Megumi and Carly for reviewing. (yes, Carly, I've heard that song, and I love it! XD)


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